Also, I HATE it when doctors advise their elderly patients that are getting too thin to pick up some Ensure or Carnation Instant Breakfast. I'll try to talk them out of most of the time. Tell them to eat real food that they like, not fake crap.

My father has difficulty chewing and swallowing (sadly), so can't exactly chow down on a steak and sweet potato, plus his appetite sucks. I think when you get to a certain point, medical care is just keeping you alive past a point where without intervention, you'd be dead. He is a vortex of issues and all those drugs and the like are required.

I think that we actually do a great job caring for people like him; we fall short on getting people who can heal and live good lives, healed.

food and sleep - major foundations for health - you'll be lucky to get either in the hospital. i'm a big believer in not rocking the boat until you're in it, if you're passionate about change, work your way into a position where you can actually affect change and then get'er done

There's a really good book out there called Pharmageddon and there is a podcast by the author on the Underground Wellness blog that is pretty interesting. I think the book really explains everything about our medical system in great detail with a lot of insight. There's a lot of subtlety there that even paranoid, conspiracy theory prone me hadn't thought of.

There have been days when I think that I really can't work in this environment anymore for fear that I'm going to tell a patient something that will get me into some serious trouble. It's a frustration that I can only vent to a few co-workers who feel the same way.
Although, there are times/opportunities to subtly educate a patient when they show interest. What gets me is that most of what you would tell a patient is simple common sense but because I'm a healthcare professional I could get dinged for giving the advice.
(can I scream now?!?!?)

Im am an RN and I bite my tongue frequently. I am a school nurse these days, partly b/c the hospitals drove me nuts, even as a postpartum nurse and not working with really sick patients. At least here, I can extol the vitures of whole food, denigrate junk food and the food pyramid (or plate or what ever it is now) is conspicuously absent from the wall.

And gentian violet can treat thrush. Next time it comes up, tell the nurse you are precepting with that a friend of yours had baby with thrush and the pedi told her to use gentian violet...does she think the doctor would order it for the patient? Gentian Violet is a dark purple stain that is brushed around the mouth or on the nipples and if you spill it on a white comforter...you will never get it out.

It is frustrating...but it is part of being a RN. What area do you want to work in? Some areas are more holistic than others.

Good Luck.

It's just another day in paradise
As you stumble to your bed
You'd give anything to silence
Those voices ringing in your head
You thought you could find happiness
Just over that green hill
You thought you would be satisfied
But you never will-
Learn to be still
-The Eagles